Lottery director close to jackpot with $8.5G raise

Author(s):

The Massachusetts Lottery gave its six-figure salaried executive director a preliminary nod for a $8,500 raise yesterday, even as Gov. Deval Patrick has asked for across-the-board budget cuts.

Lottery chief Paul Sternburg, who now earns $130,000, was given the thumbs-up for a pay bump to $138,500 by the Lottery Commission’s compensation committee yesterday, Lottery spokeswoman Beth Bresnahan confirmed.

An official vote on Sternburg’s pay raise won’t happen until a Feb. 26 commission meeting. But that vote is largely seen as a formality because all five commissioners serve on the compensation committee, and they unanimously recommended Sternburg’s nearly 7 percent pay increase. Bresnahan said the committee’s discussion yesterday was not about whether, but how much his pay should be raised.

“Several members were at odds with the amount, thinking he was underpaid. The $8,500 was fitting in this economy,” she said.

Bresnahan said the commission felt he had earned the pay hike, citing the Lottery’s record-breaking sales last year and $984 million in revenues — up from $888 million the previous year. Patrick has recommended 1 percent cuts across the board for state government. But Bresnahan said the commissioners believe applying that cut to the Lottery would have “devastating” effects. She said the Lottery would have to cut back on games, which could mean a loss of as much as $20 million in revenues.

While Sternburg is due for a nearly 7 percent raise, union lottery employees received a 1.5 percent raise in August and will receive another 1.5 percent raise in June, Bresnahan said. Sternburg worked for the Massachusetts Lottery for 10 years before leaving December 2007 to work as vice president of sales and marketing with Connecticut’s lottery, Bresnahan said. He returned to the Massachusetts Lottery in January 2011, she said. The commissioners are Treasurer Steven Grossman, Comptroller Martin Benison, Secretary of Public Safety Andrea Cabral and Patrick appointees Tim McMahon and Beth Boland.